BARCELONA, Spain - Spain asked the rest of Europe to join the hunt for a young man thought to have been the driver in last week’s deadly van attack in Barcelona as police said on Monday that he had also hijacked a car and killed its occupant during his escape.
After driving at high speed into crowds on the city’s famous avenue Las Ramblas last Thursday, killing 13 people, the suspected Islamist militant fled on foot and then hijacked the car as it was being parked, stabbing the driver to death, police said.
The suspect, Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, then drove the hijacked car through a police checkpoint, police said. It was later found abandoned, with the man’s body inside.
This combination photo shows the suspected driver of the van that crashed into pedestrians in Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain, on August 17, in this handout released by Spanish Ministry of Interior August 21, 2017. Spanish Interior Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
